Green Day still Rocks
Last friday I did something I haven't done in a while: go to a rock concert. Turns out it has been way too long -- it was a very positive surprise. Need to be doing this stuff more often. It was also the very first time I've heard Green Day live, and they did very good job: although I can't compare it to what's their standard, it was probably the best live concert I have ever attended. And perhaps luckily it was not perfect (... how could they leave out my favorite song? all the other hits were included fortunately) -- just very very good -- so there is a small chance of seeing something even better in future. At any rate, well done. I better go buy their last album, so I can give American Idiot little bit of rest.
Also: I think it is quite fitting to do this on July 3rd, to get bit of counter-balance to celebrations of the day following... with somewhat nationalistic (not just "patriotic") tendencies (luckily, this year things are bit better, maybe due to centrist president, or perhaps due to economy, whatever). Little bit of punky snot rock (with fascism-inspired video wall as background etc) is always good antidote for that stuff. Kind of like how sour works well with sweet, and why Pixar movies mop the floor with Disney ("classic", not including Pixar...) movies. You need bit of edge to get enjoyable, not just agreeable, tabste. But I digress.
One more thing that I respect about GD guys is their involvement of audience -- they actually let an audience member play rhythm guitar on "Jesus of Suburbia". Unless that was staged (kind of doubt that, wouldn't fit well with the image?) it takes some balls to try that out, I think. I can only imagine letting someone from "worst of American Idol auditions" sing: just because someone REALLY wants to sing with their idols doesn't mean they can, or even should.
Anyway: that's that: tomorrow, back to work. And I better blog something about my new gig too: things are off to a good start; I feel excited, think I have a good chance to actually dig deep into domain and get something solved deeply rather than broadly. And best of all, see some of my earlier work having come to fruition, so that I don't even really start from scratch this time.
(and after these personal digressions, I need to get back to factual writing, Jackson 1.2 plans; maintenance work for Woodstox and all the usual content)
